Editor's note

Kenya’s universities are in financial trouble. As a result vice chancellors are proposing a three-fold hike in tuition fees. Ishmael Munene argues that the increase won’t fix the financial problems facing tertiary institutions, and that any increase should be matched with a commitment by the government to restore university funding to previous levels.

With just less than three weeks to go until South Africans go to the polls in a national and provincial election, there’s been a surge in protest action around the country. The protests are taking place in townships and shack settlements, where many of the country’s poorest residents live. Steven Friedman takes issue with the way in which the protests are being portrayed. He argues that the media and all the country’s political parties offer trite, and distorted views of why poor people take to the streets.

Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe are still reeling in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai. Some of the biggest problems these countries now have to deal with relate to people’s health. In the latest episode of Pasha, Kerrigan McCarthy of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases explains these issues and discusses how to guard against them.

Julius Maina

Regional Editor East Africa

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Th University of Nairobi. Universities in Kenya are struggling to keep afloat.
Flickr/Nzomo Victor